Haughton Thornley PPG (Patient
Participation Group) took over the Health Promotion Room at Thornley House on Friday 24th February 2012. The room was decorated with red hearts,
red balloons and red cloths on the information tables. Lots of information was on hand for
people to help themselves to any information they wanted. PPG members all wore something red and
were on hand to show people round the stands.

Over 100 people learnt the ‘Hard
and Fast’ technique which is currently being featured in the BHF advert featuring Vinnie Jones. Geoff
Pogson, Lead Resuscitation Officer from Tameside NHS Foundation Trust was the
instructor. As well as CPR Geoff also gave information on what to do if someone is choking and
how to perform CPR on babies.

As well as many adults including patients
from other practices, children from St George’s Primary School in Hyde and
students from Clarendon College in Hyde attended. Everybody was eager to learn and really enjoyed the
day. Children from St George’s all
received a healthy snack of ‘cherry infused raisins’ and a ‘lunch box swap’
wheel which makes healthy suggestions.
They were also told of www.cbhf.net
website which has lot of games and information 7- 11 year old. All children and students were given an
attendance certificate.

Geoff said: "There are a number of different CPR techniques
but it has been shown that the hands only technique can really make a
difference and is simple to learn for people who aren’t medically trained. We are also very keen for youngsters to learn how to
perform hands only CPR and we would love to see emergency life skills (ELC) being
routinely taught in schools. Tameside Hospital backs the British Heart Foundation’s
campaign to add ELC to the national curriculum, but in the meantime I hope
plenty of people learn how to perform hands only CPR."

PPG secretary, Yvonne Bennett
said "We can’t thank Geoff enough for his hard work. He worked straight through from 9.30 am until just gone 4.00
pm, without even stopping for a break, instructing as may people as possible. Every
one loved Geoff’s relaxed and humorous style which put everyone at ease but did
not detract from the seriousness of what they were doing. It was also really good that two
mothers who had picked their daughters up from secondary school especially for
them to learn also joined in as well.
Local councillors also came to give their support as well as learning
for themselves. Everybody left
feeling confident they could not only perform CPR if they had to but, as Geoff
had suggested, they could instruct other people who could assist until an
ambulance arrived. People were
still arriving after we had finished”.

118 people in total attended the event

37 patients from Haughton Thornley Medical Centres

34 other patients from other practices

36 children aged 10-13

11 college students

As the event was recorded and is now available for you to watch, we hope many more people can also benefit from this after the event too.

Haughton Thornley Medical Centres encourages all its patients to get access to their GP electronic health records so that you can understand your health better and share your record with whom you like. Please see www.htmc.co.uk/getaccessnow for further information

Click here to watch the VIDEO of Red Wear Day and how to do Hands-only CPR

With thanks to Geoff Pogson, Haughton Thornley Patient Participation Group, Patients, Students, Haughton Thornley staff and Resusci-Annie and Resusci-Baby - all of whom went home safely after a good days work!

Vinnie Jones' hard and fast Hands-only CPR

Ken Jeong AHA Hands-Only CPR video from the States.

Please note the emergency number in the UK is 999

If you would like further information about activities held by Haughton Thornley Patient Participation Group then please send an email to htmcppg@gmail.com.